The Tongue, Chewing and Tasting

The tongue is the organ for tasting. On the tongue we can perceive the so-called basic tastes. There are five: sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami. These are familiar tastes, only umami may not be as generally known as the other four. It is best described as “savoury” without tasting “salty”. Some very important processes are taking place in the mouth while eating of which chewing and saliva production can have great impact on how we perceive our food.